Thinking in Your Online Handle

[Shadsie]

We all have our little names online then we have our own names (sometimes they are one and the same, but not usually). "Shadsie" is a varient on the name of a cat I had, not my own given name (though a few people have asked me if it was), and my fiance' swears he saw a "Shadsie's Deli" once...

Anyway, in my case, it's not my real name.

And usually, in our thoughts/minds, we call ourselves by our given names by default, right? Perhaps it shows that I'm online too much, but..

I was hunting for job applications yesterday. I was walking through a store, headed onto my next destination, fearing rejection and thinking things like "do I want to bother? I just keep failing," and trying to get up my grit to go ahead and do what I need to do... (I've been feeling horrible about my life lately, which, since I'm manic depressive, means I've been feeling really, crippling-level horrible, it was a feat to even be out for me).

And a thought came to my head just like this: "Courage, Shadsie, courage."

Then I caught myself.

"Did I just call myself Shadsie?" (rather than my actual name).

I did.

Anybody else do this?

Sign I'm online too much?

[DisappearingMist]

I don't know that I think in my online names, but sometimes I do get called by it. As "Disappearing Mist" Caleb and I sometimes mock it by making wise cracks about disappearing and such. But I don't think I've ever really called myself by an online username before. Although, I can see how you might call yourself Shadsie. It resembles more of a real name than "DM" does :)

[basement24]

I have never referred to myself as basement24 in real life, but I do use it often since it's my URL and my business is registered under the name. I will also sometimes click into alertness when I see the number 24. I suppose it's a bit of a good luck charm to me.

Once on the way to a concert, my friends who bought the tickets gave them out to those attending. My girlfriend got seat #24, and I #22, so I told her we had to switch "because hey... basement24."

Other than that kind of instance, I've never caught myself referring or thinking to myself as my online identity. I can definitely see it happening though if I use it more and more.

[Shadsie]

I'm glad your name is "24" and not "64."

In one of my other fandoms (other main fandom), I wrote a fanfic that I titled "Hotel 64." It's a Trigun fic that I wrote years ago that, in hindsight, I no longer like (could have been plotted and characterized better). One of my very few attempts at yaoi - written to appease a fangirl friend I had at the time - though certainly not hardcore, nor lovey-dovey (a dark fic involving one of the series villians coming on to the series hero to emotionally manipulate him and creep him out). What saddens me is that I do leave it up at my fanfiction network account precisely because it is... *wince* one of my most popular and best reviewed fics for any fandom I've written for. (I don't like "being mean" and taking down work that others enjoy, even I do not).

[Akiranon]

I don't think I ever thought about it that way. And to be honest, I never really thought about it either until now. Yes, I have a weird name in real life, but in that regard Akiranon sounds even stranger.

[Vincent]

If I told you Swiftblade was my real name would you believe me?

Anyway, I've never gotten my personal name mixed with my online alias. Swiftblade is everything that I want to be, and not everything that I am. So it's a little hard to confuse the two.

[Y2K3]

I never have, and I don't think I would. I think just it would be weird calling myself Yoshi. I've used the name for almost 6 years, but it's somethign that stays on the internet.
When I start to talk to people online enough, I find we start to call each other by our real names anyway.
And like Akir, I've never actually thought about that before.

[basement24]

I'm glad your name is "24" and not "64."

LOL! I'll keep that in mind as a number to avoid in case I ever change my handle. :)

[Zeruda]

Maybe. Sometimes I think to myself, "DAMNIT, ZELLY!" or something or other. Most people I know online call me "Zelly" because "Zeruda" is either too hard for them to bother spelling or too hard for them to pronounce (especially in voice chat). BUT, while "Zelly" is short for Zeruda, it's also short for my name, so sometimes when I refer to myself as "Zelly", I'm just thinking in my real name and not my online handle. So, I guess sometimes I do and sometimes I don't.

When I was into MMOs, I do know I often thought in my character's online handle... even though it was Zeruda there as well.

[Shadsie]

Well, "Zelly" is more than forgiveable, considering that your real name *is* actually Zelda.

... It would be awesome to find a "Legend of Stacey" somewhere... (my real name). Anyway...

My fiance's nephew calls me "Shads" in real life by default. I first met him, like I met my fiance' - online. He's very much an online person, so he sees me under "Shadsie" a lot, anyway. Besides, I really like my nicknames/online handle - it's what I would prefer people who know me from the Internet call me, anyway.

[Skull_Kid]

I usually call myself either Luna(my first ever online handle), SK or Soma(another online handle)
It is something that is very usual, cause I really dislike my true name

[Petman1325]

Wouldn't it be weird, going onto a job application form, writing in the name/nickname section "Petman1325"? I mean, you wouldn't expect to see 1325 in someone's name unless it was an extremely long line of Petmans/Petmen from the very beginning of common name. I do, sometimes, refer to myself when I speak in 3rd person to myself (Yes, I talk to myself. Not in full blown two way conversation. That would be creepy, no offence to those who partake in those activities.), but I wouldn't walk up to a person I have never met before and say "Hello, my name is Petman1325" unless I was meeting a person from Zelda Dungeon in real life (I would highly doubt that would ever happen in my lifetime.). Yet, I won't refer to myself as Petman1325 unless needed to.

[MrMosley]

I never think in the name DarkLink01, and really don't consider myself any different on here than anywhere else. This is the only place that I use that name, but the 01 part carries from place to place. My Xbox Live Gamertag is MrMosley01, which is my last name. The first time I used this kind of handle was on Mortal Kombat Online, which I named myself Smoke01. The "01" usually comes into play because someone else has already taken the name DarkLink or Smoke, so I one-up them with the added numbers.

On a side note, I often think of how people think of me based on my online handle on this site. I wonder if they think of me as someone that I really am not in real life. I also think a lot of times about how many of the people here even pronounce DarkLink01, because its probably different than I pronounce it.

DarkLink01= "Dark Link Oh One" ;)

I got kind of a country accent/dialect to me, so I rarely say "zero"; in a series of numbers, I'm likely to just say "oh", like the letter. I think sometimes that there's people who are like "Oh well there's Dark Link Zero One online.", or "Hey there's Dark Link One".

Outside of the net though, its mainly just Caleb. A lot of my closer friends call me Mr. Mosley, though I can't quite remember why that was.

[Vincent]

I often think of how people think of me based on my online handle on this site. I wonder if they think of me as someone that I really am not in real life. I also think a lot of times about how many of the people here even pronounce DarkLink01, because its probably different than I pronounce it.

DarkLink01= "Dark Link Oh One" ;)

I got kind of a country accent/dialect to me, so I rarely say "zero"; in a series of numbers, I'm likely to just say "oh", like the letter.

That's how I've always read it as well. That's how everyone says 0 on Long Island. When just saying zero, I call it zero, but yeah... if it's in a phone number or something, I usually say oh one. </random>

[Dabombster]

Do I verbally call my self Dabombster/Bomby in my physical existence? No. I do use the alias 'Bomby' quite a bit though. It's my profile on my friend's xbox, my Mii's name on a friend's Wii, the name I usually input for myself when bowling or other such activities like that. My friends will call me Bomby from time to time as a form of them trying to mock me, but it doesn't bother me too much.

[linkman8]

On video games, internet forums, internet games, etc, I commonly name myself Bladesman. This causes other players to refer to me as Blade. From there, every once in a while I'll catch myself saying, "Come on Blade, we can do this," or "Fear the power of Bladesman." (In the game I say this, I mean) Typical stuff. :P

[Axle the Beast]

I've never really thought of myself by my username... I don't think. Maybe I have a little, but... :?

I have been thinking and thought of my username, usually when thinking about talking to someone online (or anywhere where my username would be used rather than my real name.) But that's in the context of talking online. :P

[DisappearingMist]

I think it is funny to consider people's usernames compared to their real life name. When I got to know Lenora Dragon, for example, and learned her first name, it really threw me off for a while to not refer to her as LD. I guess I still do it sometimes though :)

[knowlee]

Well I can honestly say that I have done this before. Sometimes I will refer to myself as "Knowlee" although it's not my real name. :D I don't mention it out loud, but I do refer to myself as my online handle when I'm thinking to myself sometimes.

[Keats]

The only time I do this is when I'm on Live, and that's usually purposeful. I *have*, however, accidentally thought for a moment or two that I was one of my created online personas. It was kind of weird, but when I thought about it, that particular persona was basically who I really was, but with a different name and life.

I dunno, it's weird.

[ShellShocker]

I don't really refer to myself as ShellShocker. Though, sometimes my friends call me Shelly just to mock me. I don't really mind. But I doubt I could get ShellShocker confused with Alex. :xd:

[Vash03]

Well, I used this name and another in an mmorpg called Graal, and I'd play it for days at a time... and I used to think I was Kyo, or Vash... I was crazy.. good thing I quit playing.

[arkvoodle]

Hmm, I've never done this in the "Real" world but...

My friends will commonly reffer to me as "Ark" (Not my real name, or anything close to it)
Because I use it quite alot as an alias in Games and other things.

Once, while I was filling out a form in English class (I can't remember what it was for), my frined referred to me as "Ark" once again, and I filled out "Arkv-" on the form.
I realised what I was doing and erased it.
I wonder what would have happened if I didn't realise...I would have looked like a complete idiot! >.<

But commonly, yes, I will refer to myself as my username. Call me weird or whatever, but i'm used to it! :lol:

[Seizure]

I've had this same exact username for almost six years now. I use it for every site and group I sign with. As far as the online world is concerned, I AM Seizure.

Having said that, I never think of myself as "Seizure" when out and about off the computer. There has only been one time in my life where someone seriously referred to me by that name, and it made me wince painfully, not to mention I died a little bit inside.

We gave each other our real names before meeting up, so I have no idea why he insisted on calling me Seizure, and referring to himself as Carrot. Oh well.

[Bob Majinki]

My online handle is the real me, except with a lot more privacy. Therefore, I technically do think in my online handle.

[Cucco Lady Anju]

I don't call myself by my online handle [which is Jenova and some variations], but some of my rl friends do @_@;

[Emicon]

I once went to a LAN party and everyone called each other by their user names. They used them for everything. There would be drawings and they would put their usernames on the tickets. It was a little weird introducing myself as Emicon the whole day. O_o

Other than that, I have never called myself Emicon in real life.

[PureLocke]

Whenever I meet people from the Senshi-con forums(local convention, Alaska's only) I introduce myself as Locke (an actual name, as fans of British philosophers and Lost can attest) though once the get to know me I quickly just become Adem. I have not yet caught myself mentally caling myself by my username.

[monkeefun]

I have been known to answer to Monkeefun in real life. One of my friends thinks it's far too much to fun to say, apparently - or at least more interesting than my real name. I've thought it once in a blue moon, but usually I leave it to others...

[NorthApple]

Oddly enough, I don't think I ever have. Though then again, saying my real name when thinking to myself sounds just as weird sometimes. I usually refer to myself as a shortening ("Rae") unless it's a pretty stressful situation.
Sometimes though, one of my friends likes to half-mock me with a variation of NorthApple... WestGrape. I'm not sure how that came about. And if it counts for anything, when starting Pokemon HG, I started writing "North" in as the character name, but then caught myself, deleted it, and wrote the usual "Rae" instead o.O
Thankfully I've never done that on any real-life forms or anything though xD

[athenian200]

Yeah, I often call myself Athenian or Ath in self-talk. I always remember to put my real name when filling out forms, though.

Then again, that could have something to do with not identifying with my real name, or my physical self. For most people, their online persona is their secondary self, and their physical self is primary.

For me, it's reversed. My physical self just exists as a tool for my online persona, because my online persona is closer to who I really am than the image and role I have to accept in the real world.

I find objective reality confining, stifling, backwards, and unsatisfying.

[Atsuma]

No, I just choose random names that I like, either pertaining to some favorite character from a video game, a book or something else. They have nothing to do with who or what I am. :P

And no, IRL I don't call myself Atsuma, or Atsy, or anything of that sort. I don't even call myself using my real name, there is no need for that.

[Austin]

I call myself PJ often, but never PJDEP. That's just a mouthful.

[Mandi]

I don't have this problem because Mandi is my actual name :P But, a few years ago I did go by online aliases and such. I don't believe I ever caught myself referring to myself as one.

[Master Kokiri 9]

Yes, I've done it many times. In "self talk" once when I was playing a game (I forget which one :lol:) I was like "You can do this Koki... you can do this...". Also, when playing a game I was all "You shall die by the hand of Master Kokiri!". Basically, for the most part, I think in my online handle in real life only when playing video games. Not once have I been in public and introduced myself as "Master Kokiri 9" by accident or anything like that. But it would've been funny if I did. :D

[Xinnamin]

Xinnamin stems from a nickname one of my friends gave me as a joke that never really caught on, and since I was rather against giving myself nicknames for most of my life, I don't believe I've ever referred to myself as anything but my real name, not that I even do that often anyways. I do think I've recently been catching myself referring to myself as Xinn in my head though if that counts.

[octorok74]

Lately, I have been reacting more and more when people call me Octo. It's just a habit I guess and because there are so many people with the same name as me at my school. Why must there be so many Roberts. Being called Octo actually makes me more alert and makes me want to play some Zelda, which is always good.

[Dragmire]

i just chose ganondorfs surname, no numbers, easy to remember

[Pocket Asian]

Like Xinnamin, my username happens to be a nickname from a friend. "Pocket Asian" was only popular in middle school. Once I got into high school, it never caught on. The name came from the fact that I was short and I'm Asian; Korean if you wanted to know. I got the nickname in 7th grade and it was getting pretty catchy. It started to die in 8th since that friend really wasn't in any of my classes. Its just dead now.

As to if I've ever referred myself with this name, no. I've never actually used this nickname in real life. Some of my friends did call me by this nickname, but that only happened in middle school. However, it does happen to be my usernames for sites, or in the rare occasion of it being taken, I then use "Pocket AZN". Its also used for some of my e-mail accounts.

[K4KING]

I sometimes refer to my self as K4 in real life. I don't know why, but it makes me feel important and cool.

The name K4KING was kinda made up. I made it when I was in High School. My real name is Kenji and I feel special, since I'm the only half-japanese, half-filipino in the entire school. And people can tend to...criticize me. I did not get bothered by their sarcasms of my fatness or my big-problem, but I kept getting irritated that they forget to spell or say my name correctly.

They kept spelling "Cangie", "Canji","Kenjie" and "Cengee". Some even said "Congee". I was mad, and irritated, so I made up the secret name of K4KING. Only my best friend knew the real meaning of K. And some of the people here (Like Atsuma) know what K means. If you guessed Kenji, well your right, but there's a hidden code within it. Figure it out. (Even Atsuma doesn't know what's the hidden code, he just know what K means, which is kinda easy.) :P

Naturally, my other classmates caught to the craze on my nickname and some of them asked me what it means, I just clammed up and went on with life.

[MetaPwn]

its not crazy. i call myself by my gamer tag like all the time, but not aloud. i use my gamer tag 'MetaPwn' a lot (that and shmoopy) but i even have my own parody series about my crazy adventures....in my head...... but nah thats totally sain to do cause its basically you in a way..... but the name 'MetaPwn' actually derives from two experiances. first i always play as meta knight in SSBB (that and toon link and kirby) and i'm awesome at that game. so right before i pwnd people i would say 'metapwn' and things along the lines of that, eventually in guitar hero i made a band named metapwn so after all that it just stuck and its been the most used of my gamer tags EVAR!

[Bigelover88]

Nope, I never use any of my online names in reality. I never even have called myself this while not being aware. This is just my internet doing and only on some sites. Most people know my real name and call me by it all the time.